Why I love this sandwich: the positively magical, mysterious and unmockable mixture of tasty tofu that is so generously slathered throughout the center and even the mayo is vegan on this puppy.

Tofu Sammy

Two: I went to The Carleton to see Laura Peek and Mike Evin perform their poppy piano melodies. I never seem to smap a picture of the delicious frites they have there because I eat them so fast, but here is the Spinach Salad with Ginger Soy dressing, mangos, onions, peppers, and toasted pecans.

Ginger Soy Dressing! Onions! Mango! Red Pepper! TOASTED PECANS.

BONUS: Off to my friend Fitzi’s (also not the same day!) for a girls night of drinking and debauchery. I took some Daiya with me and we made NACHOOOOZZZ.

This is my fall-back scramble. Onions, green pepper, carrots, and mushrooms. Standard spicing: Braggs, nooch, basil, tumeric, and garlic. You really can’t go wrong with it. If Boy George has taught me anything, it’s how to make a good scramble. This time around I left everything a little bigger than my normal dice’r up attitude demands. I think I was onto something because, hot damn! this scramble was perfect.

Now, it’s not every city you come across the opportunity to dine at an ALL VEGAN CHINESE FOOD RESTAURANT. Nope, not even close. This, among many, is one of the reasons I decided to visit San Francisco. This is beyond not-my-street-eats, this is one of the greatest vegan meccas of North America.

Tofu Salad

Tofu Salad doesn’t even begin to describe what’s in this solid gold rock of a food jem. I’ve never had a salad like this be so scrumptious and I doubt I ever will unless I eat here again. Which is clearly on my bucket list. Perhaps the 50 before 50 list?

Vegetable Fu-Young

More tasty deep fried treasures. I bet you’re starting to think “Daaaayum, this girl is a total binge eating maniac!” However, I was not alone. I had three others to share these appetizers with.

Seems I have started what’s called The Scramble Diaries. I make a lot of scramble. It’s always different. I feel it deserves it’s own special focus.

Yesterday I didn’t have any carrots or mushrooms (gasp!) so I improvised with

corn and dill!

Roasted Red Pepper Scramble with Corn and Dill

What a babe! Look close, do you see those slivers of dill? This scramble was SO good it didn’t need katsup, salt, or hot sauce! Can you even imagine that? I never thought I would see the day. I wasn’t even looking forward to that day, but let me tell you I will gladly have it roll around again.

Here she is on the plate with my homemade hashbrowns:

The lucky scramble mingles with hashbrowns.

Hot damn!

I’m not posting any recipes right now, but if you ask nicely I might cough one or two up.

This Hayes Valley store even has a bulk section full of vegan delights.

Dark Chocolate Pretzels from Sunridge Farms. BULK!

See this jerky below? Well I thought “Hey! Maybe it’s as good as Primal Strips!” Nope. It has the quirkiest texture and not in a good way. Plus, it smells like canned chickpeas. Now we all know that canned chickpeas happen to smell like CAT FOOD so let’s connect the dots.

Stonewalls Jerquee!

Loki, the mancat of the house where I stayed in SF, l-o-v-e-d t-h-i-s s-h-i-t. Perhaps that may be the understatement of last year because this cat danced for Stonewall’s Jerquee. Never have his owners known Loki to be a dancer. Never, ever.

Upon returning home I left the brown paper bag unattended in the dining room only to quickly discover that Loki had torn into it and started to mow down on the chicken flavoured Jerquee! Holy bananas! It didn’t matter where I put this stuff, he would sniff it out. Oh, and he would dance. That cat is a natural. Eventually the Jerquee went in a bag, in a cookie jar, on top of a hutch. Even then, Loki tried to obtain said goods.

Ready made Seitan Sandwich!

REALLY? Yeah, really. They went there. A wide selection of pre-made seitan sammys! Just touch me all over, whydoncha?

At the counter they have vegan cookies galore!

My my my. How could any vegan in their right mind come out of there without feeling wild with excitement? I might as well have found a freaking shipwreck off the coast!

I’m on a roll! We’ve got a lot to cover until this blog is up-to-date.

Oh wait, 3 items is only 10$ ?! 2 for 8$?! Are you kidding me? This place is a rare gem!

Ohhhhh m'laaaaaawrd.

That was my plate. Collard greens, potato salad and the CTBBQB.

Living in a world where this is possible on the daily would be so so so dangerous. I couldn’t get over how incredible both the breaded and BBQ tofu slabs were! The textures were flawless and intense. Great sauce action and it was the perfect level of spicy.

Ahh yes, the 3rd Annual Boxing Day Brunch at the Smitherbie residence.

This year we fed 19 people! Many people said it was one of the best parties they had ever been to ! Now, that’s a compliment. We had Lady Gaga and air hockey, 5 snuggies, and a massssssive sectional couch, and I had tanqueray. Thank you Colleen.

On to the food!

Gigantic Tofu Scramble

This scramble contained 3 pounds of tofu! THREE POUNDS. It had mushrooms, onions, carrots, and green pepper. Goodness it was a fine, fine scramble.

Gingerbread Waffles

This recipe from Vegan Brunch is out of control good. Luckily for us the Smitherbie residence comes complete with a handy-dandy waffle iron.

Cranberry Ginger Sauce

Again, from Vegan Brunch, this recipe is the bomb-diggity. Cranberry and ginger accompany the gingerbread waffles like it’s their only wish in life. They are all-over-it.

Hash-style Potatoes

Boiled the night before, fried up with some veggie dogs.. HASH ! Nom.

Deeericious Soup

This is one of my personal recipes and it doesn’t taste like it looks! It’s not slop, promise. It’s a lentil soup with curry, cumin, cilantro, smoked flavouring, and lots of sauteed onions. You’d love me a little more if you tried it, trust me.

Festive Holiday Salad

In this picture you can clearly see the effects of the Tanqueray. Yes, my picture taking skills were held captive by Gin and juice! IT WASN’T MY FAULT. This salad is from Gourmet Magazine, and let me tell you…it’s a winner!

Like this:

So, this week I was really sick so I’m bombarding you with tacky, borderline pointless Chinese food. The only reason I’m posting this is because it was the BEST Chinese I have had in quite some time. Tofu included. Yes, that’s right… the tofu was good! Robie Foods may not look impressive, but let me tell you I won’t be ordering my Chinese food from anywhere else in Halifax ever again. Great service, great food quality, excellent taste, homemade sweet red sauce, reasonable prices, great tofu, and HUGE portions. I lived off my order for three days.*